Proposed coach trip to St Mary's House, Bamber and The Church of the English Martyrs, Goring on Sea with stop in Worthing for lunch.

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VISIT TO LOSELEY PARK 

THURSDAY 15TH JUNE 2023 at 10.30 am

We are delighted to invite you to a summer day trip to Loseley Park near Guildford. The day trip includes refreshments on arrival, a guided tour of Loseley House and free access afterwards to its magnificent park and gardens. 

Loseley House was built in the 16th century by Sir William More and remains fundamentally unchanged. For anyone with an interest in furniture and its history, Loseley House is a treasure trove of exquisite pieces of furniture preserved in the domestic setting the original craftsmen intended.  Visits to Loseley House are by guided tour only and this lasts about 45 mins.

The gardens are also delightful: The Walled Garden covers 2.5 acres and is divided into ‘rooms’ each with its own unique planting scheme and personality. There’s the Rose Garden with over one thousand bushes, the Flower Garden with its maze of pathways and hidden corners and the White Garden that contrasts spectacular, showy, blooms with lush yet subtle silver and grey foliage. Further information about the house, garden and facilities can be found on: https://www.loseleypark.co.uk/

The cost is £29 pp and this includes coffee/tea and a Danish pastry on arrival, a guided tour of house plus entry to gardens. Travel is by private cars and journey from Old Windsor is 28 miles and takes about 45mins.  We encourage you to share cars and will help to arrange sharing.   We need at least 20 visitors for the visit to go ahead, so please bring your family and friends for an interesting day out.  

The attached flyer provides more information about the visit and booking details. Bookings are now open so please send in your booking as soon as possible to secure a place, or bring it to our lecture on 24th May, which is the cut off date.  

Marion Clark, Visits Secretary,

Tel 07931 500645

We are delighted to announce that we have secured 35 places on the Purcell Club Tour of Westminster Abbey, which takes place by the kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of the Abbey. The tour will start promptly at 7pm with a speaker describing the history and architecture of the Abbey moving from one location of interest to the next including the Quire, the Sacrarium, High Alter and the Cosmati Pavement. At various points there will be a pause for the Purcell Club to sing suitable musical pieces ranging from the 16th to 21st centuries. The tour ends with the choir singing around the Unknown Warrior’s Grave as the lights dim, before the tour finishes at approx. 9.15 pm. 

For those who have booked to travel by private coach, we are assembling in the Old Windsor Memorial Hall (OWMH) car park from 4 pm. Our Apple Travel coach will leave promptly at 4.15pm to take us directly to Westminster Abbey for a 6.30pm assembly. The coach is expected to leave the Abbey at around 9.15 pm, allowing us to get back to OWMH by approx 10.30pm. 

The OWMH management are allowing us to use their car park free of charge, but should their car park be full, Toby Carvery is also allowing us to park at the far end of their car park.   Please share cars if possible, to reduce demand. As there are no refreshments available at the Abbey, you may wish to bring a picnic and/or refreshments to have on the coach.  

All tour attendees need to assemble at the Meeting Point by 6.30pm. Here are the details from their brochure: “When facing the west towers of the Abbey, there is an arch on your right-hand side which leads into Dean’s Yard. Go through the arch and turn immediately left. The Cloister Entrance can be seen straight ahead through another arch. Assemble just inside the Cloister Entrance,  where you will be met by members of the Purcell Club by 6.45pm”.

This visit is being arranged by Marion Clark. Please contact her on 07931 500645 or by e-mail at marion.clark@hotmail.com if you require any further details. ​

OSCAR NEMON STUDIO MUSEUM VISIT 

THURSDAY 10TH NOVEMBER 2022 at 10.30 am 

MEETING at 9.00 am at OWMH for car sharing

In May this year, Lady Aurelia Young,  daughter of well-known sculptor Oscar Nemon, presented a lecture about her father’s work, entitled “ Oscar Nemon – Sculptor of Royalty and Statesmen”. Given the interest expressed by members after the lecture, we have now arranged a visit to the Oscan Nemon Studio Museum and Archive in Boars Hill, Oxfordshire. 

The visit to the Nemon Studio Museum will take about 2 hours and will be divided into two sections, both with short explanatory talks recorded by curator and family member Alice Hiller. One section explores Nemon’s creative process, and how his works were made in the studio. The other looks at his work of the 1940s. Alice will also be on hand to welcome guests and answer questions.

The Studio is surrounded by gardens, trees and fields off a quiet lane on Boars Hill in Oxfordshire. The address is: Nemon Studio Museum and Archive, Pleasant Land, The Ridgeway, Boars Hill, Oxford OX1 5EY. Please visit www.oscarnemon.org.uk for more information and a map.  

Travel will be by private cars and we encourage members to get together and share cars and the cost of petrol. We suggest you meet at OWMH or somewhere else that is convenient in the area, but please make your own travel arrangements. The journey from Old Windsor is estimated to take about 1.15 minutes. We need at least 15-20 visitors for the visit to go ahead so please bring your family and friends for an interesting day out. 

The entrance charge is £13 pp and includes morning tea or coffee and cake, served in the Studio or the garden, depending on the weather. You may like to bring a picnic for a group lunch in the garden, or alternatively you may wish to visit the local pub, The Fox Inn, down the road. Car parking is available on site and the museum is accessible to disabled visitors. 

This visit is being arranged by Marion Clark. Please contact her on 07931 500645 or by e-mail at marion.clark@hotmail.com if you require any further details. ​

A copy of this flyer and a booking form can be found under "Documents".

Join Stuart for a virtual stroll through the heart of Rome to discover some of the most iconic monuments of the Eternal City. Twenty eight centuries of history can be divided into three periods - Rome of the Ancient Romans, Rome under the rule of the Popes, and Rome as the capital of a united Italy, and in an area less than a square mile we can admire monuments from all three periods. Ancient Roman temples and other archaeological remains rub shoulders with baroque churches. Splendid fountains adorn magnificent piazzas, and the 20th century monumentalism of united Italy adds a modern touch to this beautiful city.

Highlights of this lecture include in-depth looks at the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps and piazza Navona, with much more to see along the way​

Flier can be found here Click here 

Mayfair has been at the heart of London society for three centuries and conjures up images of Regency bucks, debutantes and calling cards.  We start in Shepherd Market where you will hear about the Old May Fair and make our way past the fashionable houses of famous past residents, Beau Brummell, Somerset Maugham, the Duke of Clarence and Norman Hartnell.

Along the way you'll hear about the London Season, the age of haute couture, aristocratic high jinks, Bond Street, celebrity jewellers, Mount Street Gardens, the Clermont Club, the Nightingale in Berkeley Square, the Burlington Arcade and much more.

Barbara Askew is a historian, a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide with over 30 years’ experience and a lecturer for the Arts Society. She regularly conducts walking tours for guests staying at London’s premier hotels.

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DISCOVER THE FORUM IN ROME

A GUIDED VIRTUAL TOUR WITH STUART HARVEY

11TH MAY 2021 AT 11.00 AM VIA ZOOM

Presenting online from Rome, professional guide Stuart Harvey will lead us on a 90 minutes voyage of discovery through the ruins of the Imperial Roman Forum, the political, social and religious heart of the ancient cityof Rome and its empire.

We will walk in the footsteps of senators and emperors, citizens and slaves, exploring the ruins of many basilicas and temples (including one to "Divine" Julius Caesar), and the original paving stones of the Via Sacra, route of Triumphal Processions. Finally we will enter the magnificent Colosseum to see where Gladiators fought to entertain the Romans.

Stuart has worked in educational tourism for almost 30 years, and is both a London Blue Badge Tourist Guide and a qualified Rome Tourist Guide. 

An Englishman in Rome, Stuart has been enjoying life in the Eternal City since 2001. Using video and photos to showcase his home city of Rome, his relaxed style of communication will give you an entertaining tour that is easy on the ear, but also informative and historically accurate.  

Publicity Flier Click here

Booking form Click here

To book this tour, use the Bookings Icon on the Home page or the other options given on the Booking form.   

The Albert Memorial is one of the great sculptural achievements of the Victorian era. Barbara Askew will take you on a Virtual Tour of the Memorial from top to bottom using stunning high-definition images that reveal details of the art-work that the human eye could never see on a real-life tour.

The sculpture groups representing the Continents and the Industrial Arts, the statues representing the Sciences and the Virtues and, most impressive of all, the 169 figures of the Parnassus Frieze are examined close up. The events which led to the commissioning of the Albert Memorial and the complications and strife involved in its building and completion are examined as well as how the Memorial embodies the ideals and aspirations of the Victorian Age.

Barbara Askew has been guiding tours of the Albert Memorial since 1998 when the Memorial’s £11m restoration was completed and she is now the only Blue Badge Tourist Guide accredited by the Royal Parks to guide the Memorial. Barbara put this Virtual Tour together to be broadcast to Friends of the Royal Parks in November 2020 and is now offering it to our Society. 

For further details, please refer to the flyer and booking form stored under Documents. 

Visits for the combined societies will be displayed here